Joy O’Brien shares her story about being at Niagara.
Joy O’Brien
Niagara University Class of 2020
B.S. Biology-Biotechnology
Research mentors: Dr. Cassandra Marnocha & Dr. William Edwards
“When I was considering colleges to attend, Niagara University quickly rose to the top of my list because it was one of the few schools at the time to offer a B.S. in Biotechnology, whereas most others only offered it as a concentration. From the moment I first stepped on campus, I felt at home—and touring the Golisano Science Center completely sealed the deal. During my sophomore year I started conducting research under the direction of Dr. Cassandra Marnocha and Dr. William Edwards. We sought to characterize the microbial community in a rather famous permanently stratified lake, Fayetteville Green Lake in Syracuse, NY. Dr. Marnocha and Dr. Edwards ensured that I was well trained in the scientific process—from initial project conceptualization to conducting field work, performing wet-lab experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and ultimately presenting and publishing our findings. Without their hands-on mentorship and invaluable guidance, I would not be where I am today as an early career scientist. Since graduating from Niagara, I earned a M.S. in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire and am currently a PhD candidate at Indiana University, Bloomington and a DoD SMART scholar at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, NH. My research interests include microbial dormancy, permafrost thaw, and phage entrapment in spore-forming bacteria.”